Fear and Escape
by bitrona
Summary: Something causes Kitty to run away from the X-men. A story of betrayal, trust, despair, love and hope. (Yes, it's a Kietro.)
1. The Meeting

Overview:  Something happened at the X-mansion to make Kitty run away.  Pietro had left the brotherhood a couple months earlier, and somehow couldn't turn her away when she asked for his help.  This is a story of betrayal, trust, despair, love and hope.  In other words, yes it's a Kietro, but there's more to this little Kietro than meets the eye.

Rated for language, some subject matter, and a few brief… "scenes" if you will.

Hope you guys like it (or somebody at least).  Feel free to review, I'll be updating a.s.a.p, regardless.

Fear and Escape 

By: Bitrona

The door slammed behind her, and she ran.  She ran as fast as she could, down the driveway, across the lawn, and through the gates.  Tears streaked her face; her body hurt, and she could think of nothing but how betrayed and utterly alone she was.  The quiet, serene streets of Bayville watched her run by.  The lights from all the suburban houses shone softly, dancing in the moonlight.  The girl, however, paid no mind to any of it.  Even as the beautiful city began to fade into the distance, she showed no signs of noticing.  She was blinded by emotion, and ran into the unknown until she finally collapsed a few feet off the side of a small dirt road.  Katherine Pryde was in a state of utter distress, silently crying herself into a fitful sleep.

----

Pietro, bored as usual, was taking a nighttime jog.  Or rather, he was running around Bayville as fast as he could, for the sake of doing something.  Anything.  And so he was running.

Pietro always moved too fast for anything to keep his interest.  His entire world seemed like it was a video, with the VCR set indefinitely on fast-forward.  Although super human speed did have its occasional advantages, the never-ending boredom was taking its toll on the boy's sanity.  A person can only read through a library full of books so many times before digressing into a state of constant boredom.

"Thanks to the world for making me Quicksilver-the worlds fastest, and currently most annoyed, mutant." Pietro grumbled.  Seven years of speed was almost too much for even Pietro to handle.  Frankly, he didn't know how he managed it. Ever since his powers manifested at age eleven, the silver haired boy was always on the run.  Literally.

Tonight was no different, and Pietro was entertaining himself by running as fast as he could in one direction for as long as he could.  He reached the outskirts of Bayville, and by this time was moving so fast he could hardly see anything in front of him.  Pietro started slowing down, if only to get a bearing on his location, when all of a sudden he found himself flat on the ground… complete with a mouthful of dirt.

"Damn it!!" he sputtered.  He spat the dirt out of his mouth and looked around furiously to see what it was that caused him to trip.  About fifty feet away, he saw an unusual looking blob.  Pushing aside his anger, he started towards the shape.  'Curiosity killed the cat but nothing can catch me... so what's the harm?' he thought.  In the next second, he was crouching behind a bush eyeing the unfamiliar shape.

Suddenly, the thing moved.  It managed to turn over, and looked as if it were stretching.  'Well that's interesting...' Pietro thought impatiently.  He was already getting bored of watching the shifting blob, and it was beginning to get cold.  'Nights at Bayville are never kind to those foolish enough to wear jeans and a wife beater at midnight.'

"Like, ow..." groaned the shape.

"Shadowcat?!" Pietro whispered forcefully, standing up when he immediately recognized the voice.  "What on earth are you doing here?! I nearly killed myself when I tripped over you!  You know when you're running at the speed of sound, if you hit something you will go flying?  Yes?  Know that??" He paused unsure of why he was still whispering.  While he was trying to figure out that particular dilemma, a new thought crossed his mind.  'Why on earth is the girl here to begin with?'

Kitty attempted to sit up, but immediately fell back down.  Pietro immediately felt a pang of guilt, assuming that he had hurt her when he ran into her.  'I did run into her at the speed of sound...' He quickly rushed over to her side to help her sit up.

It was then that he noticed her dirt-covered face was streaked with what seemed to be... tears?  'She's been crying!'  "Shit, what happened to you? Why are you here? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" Pietro surprised even himself with his sudden burst of concern.

----

Quicksilver and Kitty, codename Shadowcat, were enemies.  For as long as they'd known each other, they'd hated each other.  Their leaders forced them to direct all their emotion into fighting each other.  X-men vs. Brotherhood.  Brotherhood vs. X-men.  It was the never-ending battle that Mystique threw into the face of Professor Xavier and his students.  That was the main reason Pietro left the Brotherhood.  Sure, there were other reasons.  One being the fact that Pietro had no reason to stay with the brotherhood anymore, since his father had practically disowned him.  The reason the boy joined in the first place was because Magneto had asked him to.  Then Magneto disappeared, and Mystique was suspiciously given custody over Pietro.  Even so, it was the thought of being controlled, however, that really irked him.  Being told what to do.  Being bossed around and told how to think, act, and feel.  He was damn sick of it, and so he just picked up one day and left without any intentions of ever coming back.  He had managed to gather up some money along the way, acquiring stay at various places. At the moment, he had a job as a delivery boy, and was renting a small apartment on the side of Bayville, opposite the Brotherhood boarding house.

Kitty wasn't much different.  All the other X-men had given her the impression that the Brotherhood was a group of lowlifes, run by a terrorist mutant, Mystique.  Kitty hated the Brotherhood for being the slimy scumbags that they were, and it never crossed her mind that she hadn't even talked to any of them.  Kitty only saw them when she fought with them; when her name was Shadowcat.  Kitty never sought out reason, however.  The Brotherhood was a threat to the Professor, and so they were not to be trusted, liked, or associated with.  That's the way it was.  That's the way she wanted it to be.

And because of these prejudices, Kitty was astounded when she saw who was inquiring about her well being.

----

She had just dreamed of dying.  A switch was in her right hand, steadily pressed against the skin of her wrist.  Kitty could almost feel the pain when the skin broke, and was in the middle of screaming and plunging her wrists into the warm running water when she had woken up.  When she opened her eyes, she was greeted with two pools of water. Suddenly, she realized she wanted to live.  She wanted to live very badly.  Kitty realized the pools belonged to the face of one of the Brotherhood boys, but he seemed so concerned.  She found that she wasn't afraid.  He was saying something to her… 'I have to reply' she thought, but she couldn't gather a voice to say anything.  Growing frustrated, she stared for a moment more, before remembering the reason she was running away in the first place.  She shuddered and shut her eyes as tightly as possible.

"...Help...me...."


	2. Initial Happenings

I forgot the disclaimer last chap, my bad.  Anyway, here it is:

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the X-men… such a shame isn't it? Oh and I probably don't own anything you think you recognize.

Note: I'm debating whether or not to bump up the rating… I really don't want to get kicked off of ffnet.  Any opinions?  I think the rating's ok for the story so far, but for future reference, it might get moved up.

Thanks to: hjh-31, somekindafreaky, and GcArchangel4qs for lovely reviews, they made me all happy.  I might start responding to individual reviews... later.  I'm being kind of lazy right now, and finals are next week, so I don't really have the time.  But thanks a bunch guys!

Fear and Escape 

By: Bitrona

Pietro was shocked.  The girl wanted his help?  She knew who he was, she must know.  Their last fight together wasn't TOO long ago, was it?  Of course she remembered, he was the one to kick her out of the battle, and yet... she wanted his help?  Still holding her up a little, he sorted out his options, and realized within three seconds that he could either leave her or take her with him.  Within five seconds, the dirt road was alone and at peace once again.

----

Kitty knew he was holding her, and she knew she should have fought against him, but even if she did, where would she go?  Besides, she was too tired, and she still hurt, and actually… she just wanted to go back to sleep.  'My it's windy today' she thought.  It felt good against her face.  It was as if it was cleansing her of all wrong, and she found it very refreshing.  And then the wind stopped, and she felt herself being placed on something soft.  In the next instant, she had fallen asleep.

----

Pietro had decided he wanted to help the girl.  Maybe only for lack of better things to do, but that's what he decided and so he brought her back to his apartment.  Besides, she had asked for his help.  'I'm no Gambit, but I'm not so heartless just to leave a girl to die.  Or am I?  Well since I took her back here, I guess I'm not.'  He certainly was having a hard time figuring out his reasons.  'I haven't dated a girl for months, so that's not it.  She's not my friend… so that's not it.  Heck, I don't even know her!' Changing his focus, he tried to find things around his apartment that would aid her.

Pietro rushed around, annoyed because he had no idea what would help her.  Not knowing what to do was incredibly annoying.  'I found Shadowcat, took her back to my apartment, and now she's sleeping in my bed getting the sheets covered with dirt and who knows what else, and...' Pietro moved next to the bed.  'And... Actually she's kind of pretty.  I suppose she could be a nice girl.  Good thing I don't like nice girls, eh?'  Frustrated, and not knowing what she needed, he settled to reading some books.  Forty-seven books later, Kitty finally woke up.

Pietro was there in a heartbeat.  He opened his mouth to say, "Have a nice sleep?" but she beat him to it with a groggy "Where am I? …What? Quiksil-... like, what do you want with me?!!"  Her tone of voice had changed, and was getting increasingly loud. "You're not even part of the Brotherhood anymore last I checked, so like, what do you want?!!"

He put his hand over her mouth to stop her from talking, but she just phased through him and tried to run out the bedroom door.  Unfortunately, she cut the corner too close and ended up running into the doorframe and falling back onto the floor.  He was instantly on top of her, holding her down, hoping that she wouldn't think to phase.  He looked at the glaring Shadowcat, and proceeded to talk.

'Love the gratitude' Pietro thought to himself.  "Look, Shadowcat, don't you remember anything?"  He went on to explain about the pervious night's events, and how he had found her at the side of the road.  Gradually throughout the story, her glares softened, and she began to look as if she were going to cry.

Ending the story, Pietro frowned.  "Now what's the matter Shadowcat?  I saved you, aren't you at least going to say thanks?" Pietro was getting impatient.  It wasn't often that he helped out someone for no particular reason at all, especially an X-man, and the girl wasn't showing any appreciation whatsoever.

"Stop calling me Shadowcat, I'm like, not an X-men anymore.  And my name's Kitty." she sniffed.

'Oh duh' Pietro thought.  He should have remembered her name from Magneto's files- Kitty?  'No that's not it, it's Katherine.  Kitty for short apparently.  Yeah, Hideous name.'  He thought a little more.  'Katherine Pryde.  Got it.'  She was saying something to him, so he looked back down at her.  He noticed that she had stopped crying, and looked kind of angry.

"For like, the last time, get off of me!!"

He smirked, "Most girls would love being in your place right now."

"OFF!!"

Pietro got up, and dusted himself off.  The girl was filthy dirty; he figured she ought to take a shower.  "Pryde, go take a shower, you're filthy."

"Hey!  You jerk! Wait, how did you like, know my last name?  I don't even know who you are."  Kitty was confused.  She knew he was Quicksilver.  She also knew that he was one of the Brotherhood boys, but she didn't remember him being at any of the recent battles, so she figured he had split.  'Funny the professor didn't mention any of this... maybe he thought it didn't concern us.'

"The name's Maximoff, Pietro.  I know facts about all my enemies, and four months ago, you were one of them.  Since you're not an X-man anymore, I don't really care either way about you, except for the small fact that you're filthy dirty and getting crap all over my room."

Kitty was about to argue, but decided against it when she saw herself in a wall mirror.  'Ew! He's right, I do look horrible.'  "Where's like, the bathroom?"

While Kitty was taking a shower, Pietro sat on the side of the couch thinking.  It wasn't often he wasn't moving, but he had some questions and he wanted to figure out some answers.  'Why was she crying yesterday?  I hope she doesn't plan on staying... but then again, she says she's not an X-man.  Where else is she going to go?  Ugh, well maybe she'll be a good form of entertainment.  And she can cook my food.  And I wont even have to pay her!'  Pietro was really getting into the idea of having Kitty stay with him as a servant of some sort, when he remembered something else.  'While I was telling her what happened yesterday, she seemed so... hurt.  Well, I didn't hurt her when I ran into her, cause she's fine now.  She didn't even say anything about the fact that I tripped over her.  Maybe I only hit her hand or something.  So why was she hurt?  And how did she manage to stop crying so fast just now!'  Frustrated, Pietro realized he hadn't had any breakfast and figured he ought to eat something.

Pietro was in the kitchen plastering some mustard onto a slice of bread when he heard Kitty call out for him.  "Maximoff!"

Finishing his sandwich at super speed, he was at the bathroom door munching down the remains of his breakfast within the blink of an eye.  "What do you want?"

"I um, have like, nothing to wear... can I borrow something?"

Pietro chuckled to himself.  'Ah she wants me.  Poor girl.'  He left to get a shirt and some jeans, before deciding she would probably need more than that.  "I only have my clothes here, but I don't think they'll fit you awfully well.  Oh well, here's a shirt for now, what size do you wear?"

"I'm not like, telling you my size!"

"Oh c'mon, I'm just going to go get you some stuff.  What size do you wear."

"…I'll take your shirt for now, don't worry about the stuff."

"Geez, what size do you wear?? You can't wear what you had on yesterday, it's filthy."

"I'll wash it."

"You'll wash it?"

"Yes I'll wash it, now go away I have to finish cleaning up."

"FINE.  Be stubborn why don't you."

He left the shirt by the door, and ran off in a huff.  'Dumb girl, I'm just trying to help her.  If she doesn't want any help, fine.  She won't get any help.'  It was then that Pietro glanced at the clock and realized he had to be at work in ten minutes.  His job was in Foothill, a nearby city, so he needed to leave in five minutes.  Walking into his room, he got ready, and knocked quickly on the bathroom door.  "I'm leaving. I'll be back around six if you're still here."  Without waiting for a reply, he went out the front door and left.

Kitty poked her head out of the bathroom, her hair in a towel, and looked around.  'If I'm still here... I guess he's not kicking me out just yet.  Although I suppose if he didn't want me hear at all, he wouldn't have told me to take a shower, or brought me back in the first place, or... I don't know.  Ugh I need to dry off.'  Kitty picked up the shirt that was outside of her door, and finished drying off.  She felt extremely naked with only an oversized shirt on, but figured she could wash her own clothes and put those on before he got back.  That is, if she stayed or not.  Kitty sighed.  There was a lot she needed to figure out...

----

Pietro decided to work in the delivery department because it gave him a lot of extra time to do whatever he wanted.  A normal day at work consisted of him waiting impatiently for Joe, his boss, to finish writing down where things needed to go, leaving to pick up the stuff, running around delivering the things at various intervals of time (this was so people wouldn't become suspicious of him delivering fifteen packages in ten minutes), and wandering around doing random things.  It was a good thing his job wasn't in Bayville.  He might have had to deliver something to someone he knew, and although he could have easily gotten around the predicament, he preferred to play it safe.

Today, work was no different.  Pietro arrived two minutes early, and was greeted by an unenthusiastic Joe.  Soon Pietro was running around the city... well, delivering things.  The delivery company Pietro worked for is sort of like UPS or Fed-Ex.  Except it was a local organization, and it had a good reputation.  That good reputation should mostly have been credited to Pietro-mainly because he always delivered everything on time.

As usual, he was done delivering early.  He wandered around Foothill looking for something to do.  Foothill was a city, similar to Bayville, except maybe a little bigger.  Nobody who lived in Foothill cared much about strangers, so he wasn't worried about people coming up and talking to him.  Four months ago, Pietro would probably have entertained himself by getting girls, but lately he just didn't feel up to it.  The girls he always hooked up with were definitely hot, no doubt about that, but they were boring.  Boring as shit.

Eventually, he ended up at the city library, and sat down with a book in hand.  He couldn't concentrate, however.  He kept thinking about how Kitty was doing.  He really wanted her to stay... it was awful lonely living by himself in an apartment, hiding away.  'Man, and it's so boring.  At least she'd be someone to talk to.'

At six in the afternoon, Pietro got off work, and hurried back to the apartment.  Instead of opening the door and rushing in, however, he stopped and stared at the handle.  He cautiously unlocked the door and slowly turned the knob.  'God I hope she's here...'


	3. Inspecting

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the X-men… such a shame isn't it? Oh and I probably don't own anything you think you recognize.

Note: Ok, not bumping up rating-yay (or boo depending how u look at it, lolz.)  Also, don't expect an update until next week… because… I'm going to New York! Yay! And I love New York, so this is going to be fun.  Unfortunately… I will be away from my computer.  Oh well, waiting never killed anybody eh? And I stuck in a couple of individual review responses cause I had something to say… and I'm procrastinating stuff.  So whoop for that.  Also, sorry this is incredibly short.  I wanted to post something before I left, and this is all I'm satisfied with so far, so oh well.  Short I know, but bear with me.  Enough rambling on my part…

Thanks to: DoWriter12, GiniaTM, Circe-Aten, Anay1416, fsfasCV for your fantabulous reviews.  They again, made me all happy.  I never realized how fun it was to get a review!  So keep reviewing, and make my day, and I will be encouraged to continue writing :-p And maybe if you're review is super cool, I'll bake you a cookie, cause I'm nice like that.

GcArchangel4qs - that's exactly the kind of review I would give.  When I read yours, I laughed out loud-thanks it's encouraging :-p

hjh-31 - I'm just trying something different with the whole Kietro thing.  This fic is a little more serious than most Kietros, which is why their characters don't have the "Pryde the valley girl." and "Pietro the insensitive jerk" thing going on.  Most Kietros I read are fun, but they all follow the same basic pattern: k and p hate each other.  They argue argue argue until they realize they like each other then they kiss and they're happy then they decide to go out and alls well that ends well.  Anyway, I promise they will have their fair share of arguments, cause they wouldn't be kitty and Pietro without them.  Also, It's because of you that I'm not bumping the rating.  You're right that a good story doesn't need extra obscenities to be good, and although cussing is kind of my nature and that'll stay, I'll just omit the other stuff.  Thanks a bunch for the review, reviews make me happy :)

Hizzy - you're right that many writers change Pietro's and Kitty's characters entirely.  For whatever reason, I don't know, but I like the fact that Pietro is arrogant, and Kitty is a (smart) valley girl.  You might notice that though there are hints that these are their true personalities, they aren't going to start out that way in the story.  Keep reading and you'll see why :-p

Fear and Escape 

By: Bitrona

Pietro opened the door, and peeked inside.  Nothing.  "Pryde?" he called out.  "Pryde??"  Pietro was getting unusually frantic.  He stepped inside the apartment and quickly shut the door.  His usually calm demeanor was replaced with one of urgency, as he rushed from room to room looking for any sign of the girl.

----

Normally, Kitty would have high-tailed it out of the apartment the second she got the chance.  She would return to the X-mansion, complain about how annoying her "host" was, and joke around with her friends about the whole experience.  Except she couldn't go back to the X-mansion.  And she decided she didn't really have any friends either.  'I guess I could stay here at least for the afternoon.  Pietro is off doing whatever until six anyway,' Kitty decided.

Curious and bored, Kitty wandered around the house.  She ended up in the middle of what seemed to be the living room.  Thinking for a moment, she finally decided to inspect her surroundings a bit.

The apartment itself was sizeable.  It had a kitchen, living room, laundry room, and bedroom.  Walking into the kitchen, she saw that although it wasn't extremely fancy, it held an air of elegance.  The counter was spotless, as well as the cabinet doors, refrigerator top, and tile floor.  "Guess he's like, a bit obsessive compulsive" Kitty chuckled.  Turning around, she opened the pantry, She saw neatly stacked rows of cereal boxes, chips, a few bottles of spices, and instant dinner boxes.  One of the boxes caught her attention, and she picked it up to get a closer look at it: "Spongebob Squarepants Macaroni and Cheese" she read slowly.  Laughing aloud, she replaced the box and closed the door.  There were no magnets or pictures on the refrigerator, and the only countertop accessories were a cordless telephone next to a loaf of bread.  Hanging off the kitchen was what looked like a nook, in which a dining table could be placed.   The space, however, contained only a small round table, with three chairs.

Kitty walked out of the kitchen, into the nook, and was pleased to find a delightfully decorated living room.  Well, delightful at least in her humble opinion.  It was plain, inexpensive looking, but inviting and chic at the same time.  A couch was pushed up against one wall, facing a decent sized television.  Between the two objects was a glass coffee table, with a small cactus plant placed in the center.  One wall was covered with shelves, which were in turn covered with books.  Looking closer, Kitty saw books of all variaties-SciFi, Romance, Nonfiction, etc.  Looking around, she noticed there weren't many pictures on the walls, but the few that did exist were tasteful.  Her favorite was a large picture of New York at night, hung on the wall opposing the numerous books.  She smiled in satisfaction; plain as the living room was, she liked it.

Passing by a small laundry room, Kitty remembered the dirty clothes she said she'd wash, and went back into the bedroom to grab them.  As she opened the door, however, she was pleasantly surprised with the cozy quality of the room, and soon forgot about the clothes.  In her earlier condition, she didn't notice the large comfortable bed.  It was unmade, so she fixed the sheets and comforter.  Sinking down on the edge of the bed, she gazed about the room.  There was a desk in one corner, but the thin layer of dust suggested that Pietro didn't use it often.  A large comfortable chair sat in another corner, with various useful items scattered about.  The room was as clean as the rest of the house, with only one set of clothes tossed carelessly onto the floor.  Kitty wondered where Pietro put all his stuff, and walked over to the closed closet.  Opening the door, she found boxes of... posters?  She shuffled through them, flushing pink realizing they were pictures of playmates and calendar girls.  'Like, ew!" she shuddered, pushing the box back, and quickly closing the closet door.  She had no intention of finding any more embarrassing items in an ex-brotherhood's closet.

Kitty yawned and realized she was still incredibly tired.  She stared longingly at the bed.  'I suppose I ought to sleep on the couch... but if I slept in it last night, I guess it wouldn't matter if I just took a little nap...' she surmised.  She quietly climbed under the covers and curled into a little ball, quickly drifting off to sleep.

Kitty Pryde fell asleep in Pietro's bed, wearing nothing but Pietro's shirt.  As she drifted off to sleep, she was smiling happily to herself.

A little less than two hours later, this was exactly how she was when Pietro found her.

----

Kitty was dusting the already spotless tables and shelves in the living room of Pietro's apartment, and stopped to pick up one of her favorite novels.  She lay down on the couch ready to read a heart-warming romance.  Halfway into the second sentence, a chill ran down her spine.  She got the disturbing feeling that she was being watched.  Slowly she put down her book, and glanced over her shoulder.  She realized she wasn't in Pietro's apartment anymore, but was in the library of the mansion.  A luminous shadow slowly moved toward her, and she screamed bloody murder.  The next second, everything went blank.


	4. Interaction

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the X-men… such a shame isn't it? Oh and I probably don't own anything you think you recognize.

Note: Sorry that this update took forever.  I won't bombard you with excuses, but in case you'd like to know, this chapter is decently long, and I should have another one up in a few days.  I think.  So hopefully that makes up for my (incredibly) late update.

Thanks to: hjh-31, GcArchangel4qs, ya, inuyasha0001, Sumthinelse, thugstra for your lovely reviews.  Hope you guys all like this chapter, and please review.  I'm kind of self conscious as of now about my writing, especially for this chapter -_-

Fear and Escape 

By: Bitrona

Kitty awoke with a start, blurry eyed and breathing heavily.  There was something clammy on her face, and she tried to swipe it away.  Instead, she came into contact with what felt like an arm.  She gasped and quickly shrank away from the new threat.  Kitty couldn't remember her nightmare, but she could distinctly remember being frightened.  Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to will away whatever was attacking her.  She vaguely wondered how it got past the mansion's security systems.

----

It only took four seconds for Pietro to find Kitty snuggled up in his bed.  Not surprisingly, it annoyed him to no end.  'The nerve of the girl!  Helping her, I am, but she could have some courtesy to at least ASK before she gets all cozy in my bed!  Of course if I were her, I'd be trying to get in my bed as fast as I could... not like it would do her much good.  Poor bed hasn't seen any action for months...' Pietro wondered why he hadn't brought home any girls since he'd moved in.  He soon realized that Kitty was the first person, besides a random TV repairman, to set foot inside his apartment.

'Oh well.'  "Argh I'm thinking too much..." he mumbled.  He decided to leave Kitty alone, and quietly closed the bedroom door, intent on making something to eat.  Pietro actually was a heavy eater, and was lucky he had such high metabolism due to his mutation.  He might not have been so well built, otherwise.  After scarfing down some reheated pepperoni pizza, Pietro flopped down on the couch to watch some TV.

After ten minutes of rapid channel surfing, Pietro stalked over to the bookshelf to pick out a couple books to read.  He was in the middle of his third novel that night when he heard a yelp from his bedroom.  He moved closer to the door and called out to Kitty.  "You in there!  Pryde!  You ok?" He was met with silence, and was growing impatient with what he assumed was Kitty's blatant ungratefulness.  He opened the door, only to be met with the disturbing sight of Kitty thrashing on the bed.  The sheets were tangled about her slight body, and her skin glimmered because of the sweat slowly covering her brow.  Pietro ran to get a washcloth and was holding the damp piece of material against her forehead when she woke up a few minutes later.  The washcloth had seemed to calm her, but as soon as she had woken up, she had attempted to hit his arm away.  Pietro removed the washcloth from Kitty's forehead, and watched her shudder.  Wondering what was causing the girl's odd behavior, he absent-mindedly fiddled with the washcloth in his hand.  He felt so helpless, just sitting and not knowing what to do.  Afraid to touch her, afraid to hurt her, afraid to fail her--for once in his life, Pietro was truly afraid.

"Damn it!!" Pietro cried, getting up from his position on the floor.  He paced the over a section of the bedroom, rapidly increasing in speed.  Faster and faster he walked, until he was jogging, then running.  He felt the carpet flatten under his repeated steps, and realized he was about to lose control when he heard a voice.

"Quicksilver! Like, stop it!"

Surprised, Pietro skidded to a halt.  He glanced at the floor--a rectangular patch of carpet was in the process of wearing away.  The speed-demon sighed.  He hated losing his cool.

Apparently Kitty had woken up recovered from her dream.  Turning, Pietro considered asking if she was all right.  In fact, he probably would have if he weren't so worked up from losing his cool.  Instead, he glared at her and asked, "What do you want?"

"Like, you're asking me?  Why are you in my room?!"

Pietro didn't even try to refrain from laughing sarcastically.  "YOU'RE room?  Why are you in MY bed?"

Kitty looked down.  'Uh oh... this isn't my bed... and this isn't my shirt... oh ew, this is DEFINATELY not my shirt.'  Glancing around the room, she suddenly remembered the previous events.  'Oops, duh!'  "Oh, like, my bad," she said aloud.

Whether or not she remembered her dream, she gave no outward signs of recollecting the frightening episode a few minutes earlier.  Pietro decided against asking her about it, and figured his curiosity could wait for a more opportune time.  Kitty broke him from his thoughts.  "Um, you're like, holding a dripping washcloth."

Pietro looked down at his hand and realized she was correct.  "Damn it again!!"  In the next second he was throwing the washcloth into the washing machine.  He opened the dryer and was about to race Kitty's clothes back into the bedroom for her to change, and was greeted with nothingness.  'Maybe she already got her clothes' he thought.

Kitty, meanwhile, was sitting in Pietro's bed, mentally kicking herself for not washing her clothes.  'How could I have just fallen asleep like that?  Why am I like, so tired??'  She stood up and glanced around looking for her clothes.  Locating them, she scooped them up and headed off into the direction of the laundry room.  Pietro, however, was returning into the bedroom and they collided head on, her clothes flying everywhere.

Immediately, Kitty dove to grab her underclothes.  She reached her underwear, but her bra was nowhere in sight.

"Looking for this?"

Slowly, Kitty turned towards Pietro.  Dangling off one long, beautifully sculpted finger was a lacy black bra.  HER lacy black bra.  Furious, Kitty stomped her foot.  Unfortunately, her foot stomping escapade did nothing except make Pietro's smirk grow wider.  "Give that back to me! I like, need that you know!"

Looking her over, Pietro replied, "Actually, it doesn't look like you do.  Hmm… 30 B.  Wow!  I'm impressed!  I take back my previous statement.  Oh well, sucks for you now, doesn't it?" Pietro was really beginning to enjoy this.  Kitty, however, wasn't.  She scooped up her clothes for the second time and pushed past Pietro.  Throwing everything into the washing machine, she turned it on and returned to the bedroom.  On the large chair was a stack of clothes, her bra sitting happily on top.  She picked up the clothes, and a note dropped to the floor.

[You didn't want clothes, but I got you some anyway.  Couldn't have you running around the apartment in my shirt forever--what would the neighbors think?  They should fit.  There's a McDonald's down the street; I have no plans tonight.]

'Is he like, asking me out?  That's fast.  Ugh, how incredibly arrogant!'  Returning her focus on the clothes, Kitty picked them up to examine them.  She was surprised to find that they weren't completely abominable.  'If I didn't know of his previous reputation at Bayville High, I'd swear he was gay.  His taste in clothes is WAY too good.'  She picked up the tiny thong, and flushed in embarrassment.  'Figures he would get something like this,' she thought angrily.  Not wanting to dwell on it, however, she closed the door, put on the piece of cloth, and picked up the knee length skirt and top.  Putting them on, she was surprised to find that they fit pretty well.  Not even wanting to think of how Pietro knew her size, Kitty twirled around a couple times before cautiously walking out of the bedroom.

Waiting for Kitty in the kitchen, Pietro was cleaning everything that could be seen.  When he heard the bedroom door open, he put away all his supplies and went to find Kitty.

"Ready to get some quality dinner?"

"I like, don't eat hamburgers."

"Yeah, well, they've got salads and veggie burgers galore.  Don't tell me you've never been to McDonalds!  Geez Pryde, you're such a nerd."

"Fast food is like, SO unhealthy for you.  No wonder you're so pale, Maximoff."

"Oh shut up and lets get going." Pietro said impatiently.  "I'm hungry, and you are too."

Kitty sighed and silently admitted Pietro was correct in his last statement.  "Fine, but like, you're totally paying."  In the back of her mind, Kitty thought back to the note.  'So is this a date?  If it is, it's a pretty darn cheap date.  But… is it?'

(Second) Note: So, is it a date?  Not a big cliffhangerish type thing to end this chapter, like it was with the other chapters, but I don't want EVERYthing ending all suspenseful.  That would be too repetitive, and WAY too boring.


End file.
